Astex Technology Joins Global Phasing Consortium to Collaborate on Macromolecular Crystal Structure Determination Projects


CAMBRIDGE, UK, June 11, 2001 (PRIMEZONE) -- Astex Technology Ltd., the structure-based drug discovery company, has joined the Global Phasing Ltd. consortium, gaining access to the most advanced versions of Global Phasing's macromolecular crystal structure determination and refinement software for use in its drug discovery programs.

"Joining the Global Phasing consortium will significantly enhance Astex's ability to convert raw data from our X-ray crystallography machines into three dimensional structures of proteins, thus further improving our rational drug design capabilities," commented Harren Jhoti Ph.D., Cofounder, CSO of Astex. "Astex and Global Phasing will work together, drawing on both companies' expertise, to further develop the software for protein structure determination."

The consortium membership includes a number of major pharmaceutical companies as well as some of the most prominent biotech companies in the drug discovery field. Astex will have access to development versions of the software, and Global Phasing's expert scientists and software specialists will be available for regular consultation and will provide training to Astex scientists. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Gerard Bricogne Ph.D., Founder of Global Phasing Ltd. commented, "I am delighted that Astex are joining our consortium. Structure-based drug discovery makes very strong demands on crystallographic methods. We can meet these demands by implementing the Bayesian approach I proposed over a decade ago, and the consortium provides us with a unique opportunity - and a mandate - to do so. Our efforts complement Astex's own expertise perfectly, and I'm convinced that our interaction will benefit the other consortium members."

Global Phasing Ltd. is a Cambridge-based company founded by Gerard Bricogne Ph.D. in 1996. Development of the company's commercial-grade software began in the Laboratory of Molecular Biology at the MRC in the early 1990's. Software programs developed by Global Phasing, which include SHARP (Statistical Heavy-Atom Refinement and Phasing) and BUSTER (for recovering missing phase information), are regarded as state of the art. The programs use complex statistical methodologies (including maximum-entropy, maximum-likelihood and Bayesian inference) to convert X-ray crystallography experimental data into 3-dimensional structures of macromolecules.

Astex is a structure-based drug discovery company pioneering the use of High Throughput X-ray crystallography (HTX(TM)) for the rapid identification of novel drug candidates. HTX(TM) is part of an integrated drug discovery platform that includes cutting-edge technologies covering all aspects of structure-based research, including protein production, crystallization, structure determination, bio-informatics and computational and medicinal chemistry. Astex is using this drug discovery platform to identify novel lead compounds and has established strategic collaborations with major pharmaceutical companies. Astex was formed by leading industrial and academic scientists and is based at the Cambridge Science Park, UK.

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